UNP to oppose Kumaratunga's plans for a Constituent Assembly

UNP to oppose Kumaratunga's plans for a Constituent Assembly
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

COLOMBO, AUG 20: The battle lines for the October 10 general elections in Sri Lanka were drawn today, with principle opposition United National Party (UNP) announcing it would firmly oppose President Chandrika Kumaratunga's decision to convert the next Parliament into a Constituent Assembly in order to ratify the new draft constitution.

Criticising Kumaratunga's decision to briefly convert the next Parliament into a Constituent Assembly if her ruling People's Alliance won the elections, UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe said such a move was "undemocratic, unconstitutional and anti-people".

Launching his poll campaign, he said the previous three constitutions were ratified with two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Kumaratunga had said the draft constitution, which proposes to change the presidential system to parliamentary democracy and accords broad autonomy for Tamil-dominated North-eastern areas, would be her main poll campaign issue.

In a recent interview to state television, she said her country's electoral system of proportional representation system prevented any party from getting two-thirds majority in Parliament, despite polling over 60 per cent votes.

She said her party, if elected, would pass in the new parliament with simple majority both the Constitution Bill and the Electoral Reforms bill, which could not be ratified in the outgoing Parliament as it failed to secure the mandatory two-thirds majority.

Wickramasinghe said if elected, his party would not settle for anything that was not acceptable to both Buddhist clergy and the LTTE and added it would try to work out a consensus constitutional document acceptable to both parties.

Asked how he proposed to reconcile the two sides, he said an "intelligent leader" can accomplish such delicate tasks. "I am confident I can do it."

Wickramasinghe, who withdrew support to the newconstitution in the last minute after agreeing with the government on several contentious issues like devolution of power to Tamil provinces as a means to resolve the protracted ethnic conflict, said his party had not gone back on any of the agreements reached with Kumaratunga.

He said his party had pulled out of the agreement becausethe President tried to retain her powers of executive Presidency, which the new constitution proposes to abolish, for the next six years.

Launching a tirade against the government, Wickramasinghesaid Kumaratunga's failure to keep any of her previous poll promises would be the main issue in the elections.

"In 1994, she promised to end the war in six months anddo away with the Presidency. She has not achieved either. Instead the war has worsened. The economy is in doldrums. The main issue in this election is the all-round failure of the People's Alliance in governing the country," he said.

Wickramasinghe brushed off as propaganda recentdisclosures by a former senior police official that he had authorised death squads to have a free run during the crackdown on the Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP) from 1988-90.

Asked whether he feared arrest in coming days, he said,"Let us see. We will cross the bridge when we come to it."